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Kennedy-Chapter 30 30 Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad ᇻᇾᇻ 1912–1916 American enterprise is not free; the man with only a little capital is finding it harder and harder to get into the field, more and more impossible to compete with the big fellow. Why? Because the laws of this country do not prevent the strong from crushing the weak. WOODROW WILSON, THE NEW FREEDOM, 1913 ffice-hungry Democrats—the “outs” since nose, but to their surprise, Wilson waged a passion- O1897—were jubilant over the disruptive Repub- ate reform campaign in which he assailed the lican brawl at the convention in Chicago. If they “predatory” trusts and promised to return state gov- could come up with an outstanding reformist ernment to the people. Riding the crest of the pro- leader, they had an excellent chance to win the gressive wave, the “Schoolmaster in Politics” was White House. Such a leader appeared in Dr. swept into office. Woodrow Wilson, once a mild conservative but now Once in the governor’s chair, Wilson drove a militant progressive. Beginning professional life as through the legislature a sheaf of forward-looking a brilliant academic lecturer on government, he had measures that made reactionary New Jersey one of risen in 1902 to the presidency of Princeton Univer- the more liberal states. Filled with righteous indig- sity, where he had achieved some sweeping educa- nation, Wilson revealed irresistible reforming zeal, tional reforms. burning eloquence, superb powers of leadership, Wilson entered politics in 1910 when New Jer- and a refreshing habit of appealing over the heads of sey bosses, needing a respectable “front” candidate the scheming bosses to the sovereign people. Now a for the governorship, offered him the nomination. figure of national eminence, Wilson was being They expected to lead the academic novice by the widely mentioned for the presidency. 687 688 CHAPTER 30 Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad, 1912–1916 The “Bull Moose” Campaign I want to be a Bull Moose, of 1912 And with the Bull Moose stand With antlers on my forehead And a Big Stick in my hand. When the Democrats met at Baltimore in 1912, Wil- son was nominated on the forty-sixth ballot, aided Roosevelt and Taft were bound to slit each by William Jennings Bryan’s switch to his side. The other’s political throats; by dividing the Republican Democrats gave Wilson a strong progressive plat- vote, they virtually guaranteed a Democratic victory. form to run on; dubbed the “New Freedom” pro- The two antagonists tore into each other as only for- gram, it included calls for stronger antitrust mer friends can. “Death alone can take me out legislation, banking reform, and tariff reductions. now,” cried the once-jovial Taft, as he branded Roo- Surging events had meanwhile been thrusting sevelt a “dangerous egotist” and a “demagogue.” Roosevelt to the fore as a candidate for the presi- Roosevelt, fighting mad, assailed Taft as a “fathead” dency on a third-party Progressive Republican with the brain of a “guinea pig.” ticket. The fighting ex-cowboy, angered by his recent Beyond the clashing personalities, the overshad- rebuff, was eager to lead the charge. A pro-Roosevelt owing question of the 1912 campaign was which of Progressive convention, with about two thousand two varieties of progressivism would prevail—Roo- delegates from forty states, assembled in Chicago sevelt’s New Nationalism or Wilson’s New Freedom. during August 1912. Dramatically symbolizing the Both men favored a more active government role in rising political status of women, as well as Pro- economic and social affairs, but they disagreed gressive support for the cause of social justice, sharply over specific strategies. Roosevelt preached settlement-house pioneer Jane Addams placed the theories spun out by the progressive thinker Her- Roosevelt’s name in nomination for the presidency. bert Croly in his book The Promise of American Life Roosevelt was applauded tumultuously as he cried (1910). Croly and TR both favored continued consol- in a vehement speech, “We stand at Armageddon, idation of trusts and labor unions, paralleled by the and we battle for the Lord!” The hosanna spirit of a growth of powerful regulatory agencies in Washing- religious revival meeting suffused the convention, ton. Roosevelt and his “bull moosers” also cam- as the hoarse delegates sang “Onward Christian Sol- paigned for woman suffrage and a broad program of diers” and “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” William social welfare, including minimum-wage laws and Allen White, the caustic Kansas journalist, later “socialistic” social insurance. Clearly, the bull moose wrote, “Roosevelt bit me and I went mad.” Progressives looked forward to the kind of activist Fired-up Progressives entered the campaign welfare state that Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal with righteousness and enthusiasm. Roosevelt would one day make a reality. boasted that he felt “as strong as a bull moose,” and Wilson’s New Freedom, by contrast, favored the bull moose took its place with the donkey and small enterprise, entrepreneurship, and the free the elephant in the American political zoo. As one functioning of unregulated and unmonopolized poet whimsically put it, markets. The Democrats shunned social-welfare Roosevelt Versus Wilson 689 proposals and pinned their economic faith on com- Wilson and Roosevelt exceeded the tally of the more petition—on the “man on the make,” as Wilson put conservative Taft. To the progressive tally must be it. The keynote of Wilson’s campaign was not regula- added some support for the Socialist candidate, per- tion but fragmentation of the big industrial com- sistent Eugene V. Debs, who rolled up 900,672 votes, bines, chiefly by means of vigorous enforcement of or more than twice as many as he had netted four the antitrust laws. The election of 1912 thus offered years earlier. Starry-eyed Socialists dreamed of being the voters a choice not merely of policies but of in the White House within eight years. political and economic philosophies—a rarity in Roosevelt’s lone-wolf course was tragic both for U.S. history. himself and for his former Republican associates. The heat of the campaign cooled a bit when, in Perhaps, to rephrase William Allen White, he had Milwaukee, Roosevelt was shot in the chest by a bitten himself and gone mad. The Progressive party, fanatic. The Rough Rider suspended active cam- which was primarily a one-man show, had no future paigning for more than two weeks after delivering, because it had elected few candidates to state and with bull moose gameness and a bloody shirt, his local offices; the Socialists, in contrast, elected more scheduled speech. than a thousand. Without patronage plums to hand out to the faithful workers, death by slow starvation was inevitable for the upstart party. Yet the Progres- Woodrow Wilson: sives made a tremendous showing for a hastily A Minority President organized third party and helped spur the enact- ment of many of their pet reforms by the Wilsonian Democrats. Former professor Wilson won handily, with 435 As for the Republicans, they were thrust into electoral votes and 6,296,547 popular votes. The unaccustomed minority status in Congress for the “third-party” candidate, Roosevelt, finished second, next six years and were frozen out of the White receiving 88 electoral votes and 4,118,571 popular House for eight years. Taft himself had a fruitful old votes. Taft won only 8 electoral votes and 3,486,720 age. He taught law for eight pleasant years at Yale popular votes (see the map on p. 690). University and in 1921 became chief justice of the The election figures are fascinating. Wilson, with Supreme Court—a job for which he was far more only 41 percent of the popular vote, was clearly a happily suited than the presidency. minority president, though his party won a majority in Congress. His popular total was actually smaller than Bryan had amassed in any of his three defeats, Wilson: The Idealist in Politics despite the increase in population. Taft and Roo- sevelt together polled over 1.25 million more votes than the Democrats. Progressivism rather than Wil- (Thomas) Woodrow Wilson, the second Democratic son was the runaway winner. Although the Demo- president since 1861, looked like the ascetic intel- cratic total obviously included many conservatives lectual he was, with his clean-cut features, pinched- in the solid South, the combined progressive vote for on eyeglasses, and trim figure. Born in Virginia The Presidential Vote, 1912 Electoral Approximate Candidate Party Vote Popular Vote Percentage Woodrow Wilson Democratic 435 6,296,547 41% Theodore Roosevelt Progressive 88 4,118,571 27 William H. Taft Republican 8 3,486,720 23 Eugene V. Debs Socialist — 900,672 6 E. W. Chafin Prohibition — 206,275 1 A. E. Reimer Socialist-Labor — 28,750 0.2 690 CHAPTER 30 Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad, 1912–1916 WASH. ME. 7 6 MONTANA VT. N.D. N.H. 4 MINN. 4 5 4 MASS. ORE. 12 N.Y. 18 5 IDAHO S.D. WISC. 45 MICH. R.I. 5 4 WYO. 5 13 15 PA. CONN. 7 3 IOWA 38 N.J. 14 NEBR. 13 OHIO NEV. 8 ILL. IND. 24 DEL. 3 W. VA. 3 UTAH 29 15 VA. MD. 8 COLO. 8 4 MO. KY. 12 CALIF. 6 KANSAS Presidential Election of 1912 18 13 11 10 N.C. (with electoral vote by state) (+2 Dem.) TENN. 12 12 The Republican split surely boosted OKLA. S.C. ARIZ. 10 ARK. 3 N.M. 9 ALA. 9 Wilson to victory, as he failed to win 3 MISS. 12 GA. a clear majority in any state outside 10 14 TEXAS LA.
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